Lou Rawls's first Gamble & Huff-produced album brings this veteran jazz singer into the R&B mainstream without jettisoning his ties to a big-band musical style. Understated elegance characterizes a production that mixes Count Basie/Joe Williams-influenced pop jazz ("You're the One") with theatrical pop (Bricusse and Newley's "Pure Imagination") and light disco ("You'll Never Find Another Love like Mine"). More sophisticated than most Gamble & Huff projects, All Things in Time shows off Rawls's virile voice to nice effect. A fastidious phraseologist whose stylistic antecedents are Billy Eckstine and Joe Williams, Rawls exercises an emotional restraint that allows the triteness of most of the songs to go unchecked. But when handed a strong, straightforward pop statement like his excellent hit "You'll Never Find," Rawls can sound compelling as well as suave. (RS 223)

STEPHEN HOLDEN